London Underground Map Rarities

Here is a list of the rarities out there, maps which are documented, but which are much harder to find. Some of these 'rarities' are rarer than others. Some are known to be rare, others I have inferred from conversations with dealers and other collectors. At an extreme, print runs were very limited indeed, so that today there are known examples held by just one or two private collectors. If you do see one of these for sale by a dealer at a reasonable price, then snap it up. If any of the real rarities are going to turn up anywhere, it is more likely to be at an auction. It would be interesting to know how much these would go for. If you find one in your loft, hang onto it. If you find two in your loft, let me know!!! For corrections, email me at corrections@tubemapcentral.com.

• No date, ref: (750M-1-33)
  Identical to the first map, issued in 1933, but with "London Passenger Transport Board" overprinted on the front cover, several months before London Transport came into being. Why?

• No date, ref: (630-20M-4-33) No date, ref: (376-20,000-17-2-33)
  This map is a special produced for 'Orange Luxury Coaches' in limited numbers. The 'M' number on maps often indicates the size of the print run. If this is the case here, then just 20,000 maps were produced, as opposed to hundreds of thousands in more typical print runs. In terms of design, it seems to be identical to the first issue, right down to the "New design for an old map" request for comments on the front panel, with additional information for Orange Luxury Coaches overprinted.

• No date, ref: (376-20,000-17-2-33)
  Apparently, maps do exist without the overprint publicising new stations opening on the Piccadilly Line. These appear to be rare.

• 1934, No. 2, no reference number
  I have never seen the version of this map in which "Liverpool Street" is missing. Presumably, a few were cut out, folded, and issued before the mistake was noticed, but the remainder of the print run had not yet been prepared, and so these sheets were fed through the printer again with "Liverpool Street" overprinted.

• 1947, No. 1, ref: 146.214G. 1M
  The print code implies that just 1000 were printed, but whatever the exact number, this issue seems to be very rare indeed. Why go to the trouble of a print run of so few copies? I have seen a photocopy, and cannot identify any differences on the map itself between this and the more common 1947 map.

N.B. Problems with print registration mean that for some issues, although the maps are common, well-registered ones are rarities.

• 1977, No. 1, ref: 1.77/1001M/100,000
  The North London Line was added to the map for the first time, but station closures were shown incorrectly, and maps were corrected using an overprinted note. Maps WITHOUT the overprint are very rare indeed.

• 1979, No. 1, no reference number
  Apparently, there are two additional versions of this map with errors, some maps show the entire length of the Bakerloo Line to Watford Junction in dark brown, others mis-spell the designer's name as "Paul Garbuttt".

• 1986, ref: 686/18410/150M(1656A)
  The cover of this map advertises "North American special visitor details" on behalf of Britrail, the international marketing and tourism arm of British Rail. It is very difficult indeed to track down. With perhaps just 150,000 printed (typical print runs seem to have reached around a million per map at this point), it is possible that most of these maps crossed the Atlantic.

• 1995, January, no reference number
  There were two maps issued in January 1995, the cover of rarer version advertising the "London First Centre". By this time, reference numbers were no longer printed on the map, and so there is no indication of the print run. The map itself is identical to the standard January 1995 issue, but there are differences to the key/front panel side. By this time maps were computer-designed, and so a smaller print run with the addition of an advertisement and some other minor details altered would have been easy to do, but this map is unique in that it is a special issue, prepared alongside a more numerous main print run.

• 2005, March, no reference number
  Not the standard March 2005 issue, but a special (originally intended for London-wide circulation), and designed by FWT, showing the projected network for 2012. In the event, only sufficient numbers were printed for distribution to the IOC. The exact print run is not known.

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